Remember the Sabbath Day

Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.

Which day?
Let's sort out first which day of the week is the sabbath day.  In Judaism, the sabbath is Saturday - which starts on Friday evening at 6pm and continues for 24 hours. Christians have transferred the idea of the sabbath to Sunday, the first day of the week, because Jesus set this in motion.  This was the day on which He rose from the dead (John 20:1-18). All eight post-resurrection appearances took place on the first day, either His day of resurrection or the following Sunday. The seventh day is a reminder of God’s work in creation: the first day is a weekly reminder of God’s work in redemption. Every Sunday is an Easter for the Christian.  The early church recognised this change and kept the first day of the week as a distinct and different day (Acts 20:7, 1 Cor 16:2)

Still relevant?

Is the fourth commandment relevant to us today, and if so, how should we treat it?

God gave this law to the Hebrews as they wandered through the desert during their 40-year journey from Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan. (Exodus 20)

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work,  but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 

Seven is a number which denotes perfection and completeness, and is used in the Bible many times with this underlying meaning.  God used the backdrop of his creation of the world in 6 days, and resting on the seventh, to tell his people to do the same - to have one day of rest in seven.  It's interesting that after the French Revolution an attempt was made to metricate the calendar and have a ten-day week.  The experiment failed and was eventually abandoned in favour of returning to a seven-day week. 

The commandment about the sabbath is more detailed than all the others, covering four verses in Exodus 20, and is the only one which begins with the word 'remember'.   All too easily we forget things which should be important, and one of the things which has tended to wither in recent years, even among Christians, is meaningful observance of this commandment.

Jewish observance

Sabbath observance for orthodox Jews is legalistic and restrictive: one of their websites includes the following information :

Climbing a tree is forbidden, because it may lead to breaking twigs or tearing leaves, which could be construed as “reaping” (i.e., separating part of a growing plant from its source). Other activities that by extension are prohibited on the Sabbath include the following:

• Adding fresh water to a vase of cut flowers (sowing — any activity that causes or furthers plant growth).
• Making a bouquet of flowers (making a sheaf).
• Separating good fruit from spoiled fruit (winnowing, selecting, sifting).).
• Cutting hair or nails (shearing sheep-removing outer covering of a human or animal).
• Applying makeup (dyeing).
• Drawing blood for a blood test (slaughtering).
• Rubbing soap to make lather, applying face cream, polishing shoes, using scouring powder for utensils or other surfaces (scraping-smoothing the surface of any material by grinding, rubbing, or polishing).
• Sharpening a pencil (cutting to shape-altering the size or shape of an item to make it better for human use).
• Painting, drawing, typing (writing, making durable marks on a durable material).
• Tearing through lettering on a package (erasing).
• Opening an umbrella or unfolding a screen (building).
• Smoking a cigarette, using the telephone (kindling a fire).
• Switching off an electric light (extinguishing a fire).
• Setting or winding a clock or watch (finishing off).

Jesus's clarification.

Jesus took a very different view:      One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.  The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”  He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?  In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”  (Mark 2.23)

Jesus's teaching is clear: sabbath observance is meant to be a gift to us, not a restriction upon us.  Resting one day a week is a privilege to be encouraged, not a nuisance designed to enslave us.

The Lord's Day Observance Society  (now named 'One Day Ministries') campaigned for many years to protect shop employees from being obliged to work in supermarkets  on a Sunday, and this turned into the 'Keep Sunday Special' campaign.  It became heated and politically controversial, with strong arguments being put forward on both sides. It finally resulted in supermarkets being allowed to open on Sundays but with restricted hours of opening. 

One Day Ministries has an informative web-page on the fourth commandment: 
 https://www.dayone.org.uk/home/what-s-wrong-with-britain/fourth-commandment/

My personal application

Keeping the sabbath involves both rest and dedication to God.  'Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.'  My mid-teens were academically pressurized - I went to a public day-school which included Saturday morning school, followed by three hours of weekend homework. 

A fellow pupil somewhat older than myself said in our Bible Class (Crusaders) that he had decided never to do schoolwork on a Sunday, as he wanted to have a day of rest which included coming to Crusaders and/or church .  I was impressed and decided to follow his example. I have continued to do so for the past 60+  years.  As a schoolteacher I would not mark books or prepare lessons on a Sunday.   When I came to live in Neston I acquired a fairly big vegetable garden and attempted to keep it well-cultivated.  But it was heavy-going and to me it was rather a chore, so I decided against gardening on Sundays.  Others, who love gardening as a relaxation from their daily grind at the office might see this in exactly the opposite way. If gardening is a relaxation, then it can count as rest.

Poulsom's farm.

The field opposite our house used to be farmed by Christopher Poulsom. Chris had excellent relationships with other local farmers, and also with his employees. The neighbouring farmers would always help one another at haymaking time, but Christopher, because of his Christian priorities would not do farmwork on Sundays if it could wait until Monday, and would not demand work from his employees on Sunday either if it could be avoided. Chris once told me of a Sunday when many other farmers were haymaking as they expected a rainstorm on the Monday. Christopher went to chapel on the Sunday, leaving half the field harvested and half still undone. In due course the rain came down in torrents, soaking the part of the field which had been harvested, but leaving the other part of the field completely untouched. It was a great example of God honouring those who honour him. 

Chris teaching my first wife Lindsay how to drive the tractor

A picnic during harvesting